I swear I'm living in an episode of The Twilight Zone written by Kurt Vonnegut. Submitted for your consideration: a wealthy family in Stoke-on-Trent England possess the country's largest carbon footprint. "Their annual energy bill of £3,000 was five times the national average," The Daily Telegraph notes. "The central heating was left on for 24 hours a day. Nothing in their home was recycled, and their carbon-unfriendly inventory included 15 televisions, 30 game consoles, six computers, three DVD players, three fridges, a laptop, 16 spotlight bulbs in the kitchen alone, and two cars (a gas-guzzling 4×4 and a Mini)." The Fowlers are whisked off to a "House of Correction" in Wales where they live for four days without running water or electricity. They fish garbage out of a lake, walk across a pile of burning coals (symbolizing their fossil fuel consumption), watch a pig being killed (and eat it) and fertilize their vegetables with their own urine. Upon their return, they discover an "eco-mower" sheep, an electric car and a pedal-powered washing machine that only works with cold water. Did I mention that this was all done for a reality show called "Outrageous Wasters?" That's it, I'm off to the hot tub…
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I think that’s brilliant!!
In a strange eco-nazi sort of way, but still, who hasn’t dreamt of inflicting such a punishment on other?
That aside, I’m flummoxed that you can own 30 games consoles but “only” 6 computers and 2 cars. Seems pretty strange…
Oh, and why did those people accept to do this show in the 1st place?
I swear, this realty tv thing must die eventually, right? Am I the only person on Earth that doesn’t care what other people do in the privacy of their home? Must everyone know everyone else’s business?
Hey, if this family could afford all that luxury in the People’s Republic of Brittania, more power (literally) to them. Hopefully all their extra carbon in the air will help fend off the coming nuclear winter. Worse case scenario, the extra heat helps make the large, planet feeding wheat fields of Siberia and Alaska a reality.
I don’t see how this helps anyone. Admittedly, I am not exactly “Go Green!”, but I am a staunch conservative. If that kind of waste does on rock your wallet hard enough to wake you up, how is an imposed environmental conscience and, as Mr. Farago put it, re-education expected to do it?
This is the finacial equivilant, to me, of rappers pouring bottles of Cristal on the floor.
Is it really fair to call this re-education if they signed up for this voluntarily?
I thought that description was referring to them after the green re-eduction where they learned how to set up a dummy carbon offset company which they could both pay into and collect from.
… and what does this have to do with cars?
That show would have a field day in the USA. A family with just a single 4×4 is nothing! That family could consume a year’s worth of energy with just a 1-week vacation on the QE2. :-(
Call me when Al Gore volunteers for the treatment.
… and what does this have to do with cars?
The same thing as articles on illegal immigrants. If the original article mentions automobiles, and the guy in charge of the site thinks it’s interesting, it’ll get posted.
(Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this sort of thing. But you do probably want to be aware of it.)
All that and their annual energy bill was just 3,000 pounds per YEAR? That’s just 250 pounds per month. That would actually have to be an incredibly green home to run that much electricity and heating for a year that cheaply. Must be a mistake. 3,000 per month I might believe.
“”Their annual energy bill of £3,000 was five times the national average,” The Daily Telegraph notes. “The central heating was left on for 24 hours a day. Nothing in their home was recycled, and their carbon-unfriendly inventory included 15 televisions, 30 game consoles, six computers, three DVD players, three fridges, a laptop, 16 spotlight bulbs in the kitchen alone, and two cars (a gas-guzzling 4×4 and a Mini).”
So only slightly more energy intensive than a fairly typical working class American family. OK, my energy bill is less than $6,000 (£3,000) and we don’t have 15 TVs. Our central heat/AC kicks on when the themostat tells it to kick on, we have 3 computers (and therefore 3 DVD players) 3 fridges, and I’d be scared to know how many game consoles my son has. Our smallest vehicle is a lot bigger than a mini.